HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Feb 9: To increase the existing line capacity, smooth train operations, reduce congestion, and facilitate ease of traveling and transportation, doubling of railway tracks in important sections is taken into consideration by the Ministry of Railways. The work for doubling of Agthori – Kamakhya including the Saraighat Bridge over the river Brahmaputra and Lumding – Furkating has been approved on Thursday by the cabinet.
At present, there are two bridges over the Brahmaputra River at Saraighat near Kamakhya. Out of these two, the existing rail-cum-road ‘Saraighat Bridge’ was commissioned in 1964. This has a provision of a single line railway track at the lower deck and a two-lane road at the upper deck. As of now, there is mostly a single line in operation over the New Bongaigaon – Rangiya – Agthori – Kamakhya section. Doubling works are in progress and the section is to be commissioned shortly. For the achievement of the full benefit of doubling of the New Bongaigaon – Rangiya – Agthori section, the doubling of the remaining portion i.e. Agthori – Kamakhya is inevitable. The total estimated cost of the double line BG track from Agthori to Kamakhya including the second rail-cum-road bridge at Saraighat is Rs 1650.37 crore with 41% cost-sharing by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. There will be a double line track on the lower deck and a 3-lane road with footpaths on the upper deck. The north end approach of the bridge will connect Agthori Station with a track length of 2.694 km and the south end will connect Kamakhya Station with a 3.07 km long approach. Due to upcoming industries in this region in the near future, it will create an additional line capacity in the section because of the additional burden of both inward and outward traffic towards the North East. Apart from creating additional infrastructure, this will generate huge employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled manpower in the nearby districts.
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Work on the Lumding – Furkating (140 km) section has been sanctioned as part of the proposed Lumding – Tinsukia – Dibrugarh 381 km long doubling project. The anticipated cost of this project is Rs 2333.84 crores. The project includes 18 stations in between. The doubling of this section will directly benefit the local population of the Hojai, Karbi – Anglong, Golaghat districts of Assam, and Dimapur of Nagaland. Railway connectivity to districts of Upper Assam and Nagaland will get boosted. Enhanced rail transportation capacity will benefit all sections of people, and transportation of goods will also become cheaper upon completion. The economic scenario of the nearby areas will improve significantly with savings in fuel and reduced transportation costs apart from reduced travel time. These two multi-tracking projects will add 179 km of railway lines in Assam and 21 km of railway lines in Nagaland. Four more multi-tracking projects were also approved by the cabinet with the combined financial outgo of all the six projects being Rs 12,343 crores.
